Jeni’s Ice Cream in Clintonville: Sundae Bar Blues

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream officially opened brick and mortar store number six in Clintonville on October 1st. As a native Clintonvillian I am happy to have this addition to the neighborhood and even more happy that it is within walking distance of my front door. The presence of Jeni’s is good for our community and a needed culinary shot in the arm for north Clintonville/Beechwold.

I have been a fan of Jeni’s ice cream since before there was a Jeni’s. Back in the day, when she was Britton not a Britton-Bauer Jeni had a scoop shop called Scream in the Short North. It was good ice cream, but not the great ice cream she wanted so she stepped back, retooled and set out to build an ice cream empire. She has succeeded. It has been fun and filling to watch and write about the growth of Jeni’s.

Now it is time for me to whine. I received a few advance notices about the opening of the new store – via word of mouth, a press release, twitter and the usual suspects. One phrase burned into my mind: SUNDAE BAR. Oh, yes. I had visions of a sundae bar dancing around in my head. The whole concept seemed radical to me. A sundae bar could only mean one thing: a bar of ice creams and toppings set up for self service like a salad bar. Or maybe it might be called an ice cream trough. Whatever. I thought: Visionary, radical, gluttonous…..VALUE! Since this seemed like a bold idea, I did check my reality a bit and thought, well, maybe they just mean a bar in the style of an old pharmacy counter where one could saunter up to a stool, order a sundae (“Make that a double icecreamkeep.”) and watch the ingredients come together. That would be cool, not as a cool as the ice cream trough sundae bar, but cool. As a kid growing up in Clintonville, I would walk to the Beechwold Pharmacy where a 1940’s soda fountain counter was in place for sandwiches and scooping ice cream. The new Jeni’s was not so far from where the pharmacy used to be. This Jeni’s sundae bar would be a tribute to days of old when soda jerks reigned. GENIUS! I was psyched. I waited. I watched. I…longed. And the day came. I popped in for a preview on September 30th. Anticipation was high. While others screamed for ice cream, I stalked for the sundae bar.

I walked through the door, searched and scoured and found no sundae bar. I felt like a kid waiting for the best Christmas present ever but opening the box to get Garanimals. As the muse would say…meh. There is a workstation of sorts where employees have the space to create sundaes. That is it. That is the sundae bar. And that is why I have the Sundae Bar Blues. Meh.

The next Jeni’s are expected to open in Powell then German Village. If you hear about a Sundae Bar…don’t get your hopes up. However, do hope for sundaes because they are really good.